Occupy Staraya Ploshchad protest held

Russian activists found a place to occupy in Moscow, but got no further than a police station where they had to spend several hours on Monday night.

Altogether, 15 people were detained yesterday during the Occupy Staraya Ploshchad protest, which took place in front of the Central Election Commission.

The rally against unfair election and anti-social policies of the current government drew some 100 people, organizers from Left Front said in a press-release on their official website.

99 percent and Guy Fawkes

Paying a tribute to campaigners overseas demanding changes in economic policies was not the only goal for Moscow protesters, Vedomosti reported.

The slogan “We are the 99 percent”, however, was on one of the posters activists were brandishing. And many protesters showed up wearing Guy Fawkes masks to demonstrate their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Unsanctioned rally

Rally organizers said the event was going to be a flash mob, since Moscow authorities refused to give it official approval as it was going to “disturb passenger and transport flow,” Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of Left Front, told Interfax.

The “silent flash-mob” came to a predictable end when the crowd started moving toward the Central Election Commission and the Presidential Administration and police apprehended the protesters.

A number of other opposition movements and unregistered political parties, including Solidarnost, Other Russia, Rot Front, were also listed among the organizers.

Udaltsov unable to attend

Udaltsov himself didn’t take part in the protest.

“[They] will definitely detain me because I illegally, in their opinion, left hospital where I was admitted after my previous detention,” he said, Lenta.ru reported.

Further protests in front of the Central Election Commission and the Presidential Administration are planned, he added.